Electric fans are in widespread use to provide air circulation and comfort for building occupants. Room and building climate is constantly influenced by factors such as heating and cooling systems, sunlight, and drafts which affect occupant comfort. Some of these factors vary seasonally as well as throughout the course of the day. Air circulation requirements thus change frequently and fan position must be adjusted in order to maintain maximum occupant comfort.
Typically, a great deal of manual effort is expended during adjustment of fan position since the entire fan and support structure must be manually lifted and moved to the new location. Additionally, cumbersome power cords must be re-routed and/or adjusted. Adjustment in this case requires additional effort and represents a potential safety hazard since the power cord may be oriented in an unsafe position.
There is a need for mounting configurations which are adaptable to suspend the fan from a ceiling or wall in overhead positions. Such configurations provide greater safety than floor-mounted units because the fan and power carrier, i.e., electrical cords, are held out of areas where they might be inadvertently encountered by passers-by. Furthermore, fans which are located at higher elevations in a room provide greater efficiency and comfort. For example, circulating higher temperature air from higher elevations downwards provides for more uniform temperature throughout the room, compensates for drafts, and improves the accuracy and functioning of temperature regulating equipment, i.e., thermostats.
A large amount of effort is typically expended during the installation of fan mounting arrangements on ceilings and walls. Elaborate mounting hardware must be installed to support and provide power to the electric fan. The complexity of such hardware renders movement or re-installation of the fan to a new location prohibitively difficult. It is therefore desirable to incorporate features making the fan mounting arrangement readily adaptable to structures which are already in place and supporting devices other than an electric fan, i.e., track lighting support fixtures thereby eliminating the need to install separate mounting hardware. Furthermore, there is a need for a fan mounting arrangement which permits adjustment of the fan relative to the support fixture so that fan position may be altered without reconfiguration or movement of the support fixture.
There is thus a need for fan mounting structure which is adaptable to ceiling, wall, or floor mounting and permits a high degree of fan mobility while providing safe, simple, and dependable adjustment of fan position. Moreover, a requisite feature of such a mounting arrangement must include ease of installation on a ceiling, wall, or floor, and provide adaptability to mounting hardware which is already in place and supporting devices other than an electric fan, i.e., track lighting support fixtures.
Prior attempts at providing a fan mourning configuration lack provision for ceiling or wall support coupled with ease of adjustment and installation. Furthermore, these attempts fall short of providing a fan mounting arrangement adaptable to existing, already-installed support fixtures for other devices.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,857,095 to Suarez Cirau discloses a support for mounting a fan on a floor or in a window. Inner and outer bale structures which are movable relative to one another provide for various positions of the window mounted fan and act as support arms when the fan is set on the floor. The mourning structure is applicable only to floors or windows and is not adaptable to ceiling locations. Adjustment of the fan position requires reconfiguration or movement of the support structure. No mounting on already-installed support fixtures is disclosed.
Similarly, U.S. Pat. No. 1,219,745 to Keen discloses a ball-joint mounting structure for an electric fan adapted to lamp bases. A conventional screw plug connection is provided to supply power from a lamp base to the fan. One embodiment contemplates a wall or ceiling mounted fixture. The mounting arrangement, however, lacks provision for adjustment of the fan relative to the support fixture.
U.S. Pat. No. 493,305 to Sherman discloses a bed canopy which includes a slidable fixture for a fan. The fan is driven by an elastic band which is routed in a complex manner about the bed and coupled to a motor. The fan mounting fixture is not adaptable to a ceiling or a wall but requires a bed canopy. Adjustment of the fan position requires reconfiguration of the driving band and associated hardware.
The present invention solves the problems, disadvantages, and shortcomings of the prior art by providing adaptability of the fan mounting arrangement to already-installed support fixtures which are in use for other purposes. The solution of the present invention further provides ceiling, wall or floor-oriented mounting arrangements, and safe, simple, and dependable adjustment of the fan position without reconfiguration or movement of the fan mounting support fixture.